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sasquatch

Lifer
Jul 16, 2012
1,695
2,913
Dunno about makers, but I talked to Carlo at Calabria pipe the other day and he's doing okay so far. I suspect shipping out of Italy is gonna be pretty weird for awhile though...
 

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,066
14,713
The Arm of Orion
What concerns me the most is whether you can get infected by buying a pipe from Italy/France/&c. and smoking it without a proper disinfection procedure!

I checked three pipe makers' websites (Savinelli, Vauen, and Peterson) and none have any info whatsoever related to their products and the Wuhan virus. There are mentions of cancelled factory tours, and measures they're taking to protect their workers but nothing about how they're protecting their customers.

I'm leery about purchasing a Savinelli pipe now. Sure, I can douse the chamber and draught hole with absinthe a number of times, and wash the stem with soap; but what about the stummel? Briar is porous. Can I just submerge the pipe in absinthe and let it soak for an hour? Wouldn't that kill the finish?
 
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verporchting

Lifer
Dec 30, 2018
2,908
9,011
Let the pipe sit for two weeks and even if was soaked in disease there’s a limit to how long any virus can survive on a surface.

Last I heard was a statement from health officials that five days was about the max for surface contamination. Hours for airborne particles.
 

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,066
14,713
The Arm of Orion
Let the pipe sit for two weeks and even if was soaked in disease there’s a limit to how long any virus can survive on a surface.

Last I heard was a statement from health officials that five days was about the max for surface contamination. Hours for airborne particles.
Are the microscopic caves and pores of the briar included in 'surfaces'?

I am, of course, referring to brand new pipes (the only kind I'd buy—never used ones), but just because they've never been smoked doesn't mean the maker didn't put them to his mouth and/or blow on/through them.
 

verporchting

Lifer
Dec 30, 2018
2,908
9,011
@olkolfri

Yes. It’s about how long an organism can survive without the necessities of life. In this case a host.

A person in a hermetically sealed hazmat suit cannot survive past the basic limitations of food, water and air, regardless of how deep they sequester themselves in a bunker and it’s no different for a virus lurking in a microscopic pore or anywhere else.

A virus has needs. If it doesn’t find a host to provide the basics to survive, it won’t.

Time kills everything. Period. Without contact and without those needs being met, a virus will die. The feature of this particular virus that is so dangerous appears to be the transmission rate - how easily it transfers to new hosts and how rapidly it spreads.

Leave it alone in quarantine long enough, an individual virus or group of the little beggars will perish.

If that’s not the case, then every virus ever known is lurking in countless pores and surfaces on everything that’s ever existed, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting humans and kill them off with extreme prejudice.

It’s just not the way it works. I’m not advocating licking the handrails at the train station, but I’d wager the number of humans who will die from handling a contaminated Italian pipe number in the “1” or less category.
 

Casual

Lifer
Oct 3, 2019
2,577
9,421
NL, CA
Just leave the package alone for a couple of weeks if you’re worried about it. One of the easiest things to learn about viruses is how long they last on surfaces at certain temperatures and humidity levels. You don’t have ethics board troubles with those sorts of studies. This new virus doesn’t appear to be much different in that respect than SARS 1.

To support our Italian friends I bought a Castello from Tabaccheria Corti. It’s coming tomorrow, and the most likely source of live virus on it is from someone in the delivery chain in Canada coughing on the box. I’m still taking precautions, I’ll let it sit and clean it like normal, but I’m not worried.